INTERVIEW: Cazzette at Electric Zoo

posted by Nicole Mastrogiannis
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3 years ago

Alex Björklund and Sebastian Furrer have been beaming their fans up ever since they formed Cazzette. With a remix for Avicii, bootlegs for Swedish House Mafia and Adele, and their hit "Beam Me Up," which has been ruling the radio waves, the guys are getting ready to re-release their album via Island Def Jam records - where they recently signed to this year.

We caught up with the guys at Electric Zoo in New York City after their set on one of the main stages at the festival. They talk about working with Ash Pournouri, Michelle Obama, and what it's like DJing while wearing those Cazzette heads! Check it out below:

Now that you're touring in America, how do you like it here?

We love it. It’s our favorite place to be. Yeah. It’s kind of funny. It’s almost like the country is designed for touring. I mean, I can see why show business is so big here because to get around, it is so easy. Like there’s like flights are like everywhere all day when, whenever, you know? Like compared to Europe where you’ve got to, you know, you’ve got to do to like 7 connections to get to Denmark and we live in Sweden so, you know, it’s different. We love touring Europe and the US but it’s kind of cool how easy everything is over here.

You guys did Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day, how was that?

It was amazing. It was really cool to just see all kinds of artists coming out and we saw the other guys playing. Michelle Obama was dancing to "Beam Me Up," our track. It was really cool! It was a cool experience.

Well "Beam Me Up" is still such a big song, what do you think about that?

We’re very happy with that, of course. We didn’t really know what to expect in the beginning when we made the track. At first it was this instrumental called "Kill Mode," and then we finished it together with our manager Ash in LA. We kind of added all the vocals and made it to be what it is today, and that was one of our first tracks ever. We still get phenomenal feedback on that after touring for 2 years and I think that says a lot about the song, you know.

And you remixed Adele? Are you Adele fans?

Yes. We are big Adele fans.

What other pop stars do you guys like? Or any artists outside of dance music?

Coldplay, Bob Marley, we listen to anything. We try to get inspiration from as many angles as possible. You can’t just listen to one genre.

What is it like working with Ash?

It’s really cool. I mean, I think we’re so fortunate to be able to work with him because like as many people said before, he is a mastermind and he has a masterplan for everything he does. We’re so lucky and fortunate to be able to work with him. He’s really cool and he has cool ideas, and we're usually on the same page. He’s quality control. He’s like a filter.

Are you guys working on new music? Do you have new music coming out?

Yes. We never stop working after [gigs are over]. So now we will be kind of giving the whole album a facelift, for the iTunes release with Island Def Jam. We’re really excited about that. We also have like, I don’t know, 10 more songs, new songs. We have so much material now. The thing is, after the album was released, we still worked on the tracks that were released, so it’s changed now, a couple of them. I won’t say how many and how much, but it’s some. It’s some vocals in the tracks and there is going to be new tracks on the album. We’re discussing it all the time. That’s why we’re so picky, and [we're] not perfectionists maybe all the time, but almost! Because we don’t want to release something that is not perfect.

You DJ with the Cazzette heads sometimes - does it ever really get really hot in there?

Yeah, it’s insane. Today, yes. It was already hot. I was like sweating when I was just standing outside. But, you know, you get used to it too but if you’re in a club with like big fans behind you, it’s not that bad because there’s fans built in too. We’re going to do new ones too!

Where did the name "Cazzette" come from?

It was our manager Ash who came up with the name. I think he noticed when we met him that we did like all kinds of music, and we could never decide what to do. He’s like, ‘Yes but we can do a cassette.” And we can have the idea [of] doing your own mixtape of your favorite songs. You do your favorite kind of music that you want to do. Then you release it. It’s great because the name and the brand really fits our personalities.

Since we’re at the Electric Zoo, if you guys were animals, what animals would you be?